Today, I'm going to start of with a Cameron joke: What do you call it when a cow jumps over a barbed wire fence?...............Utter Destruction! Bahahahaha! Now that you have probably ceased reading, I'll dive into my topic for today.
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I love feeling accomplished. Of course, I don't know many people that dislike accomplishing things, but I find particular enjoyment in completion. This can be anything from getting my laundry done to finishing a paper for a class. Did you know that by this concept, you are bulletproof?
In effect, everything that is completed has the exact same result: The essence of completion. The only thing that looks different is the process through which you got there.
For example, with laundry, I have to put all my clothes in my hamper, take it to the laundry room, and find an open washer. I wont bore or disgust you with the details of the Agee laundry room, but the point I want to make is that this process is unique. It's different, albeit similar, than washing your clothes in another dorm's laundry room.
The completion of the paper is vastly different than the laundry room. It takes place in an entirely different setting, an entirely different mindset is required, and different materials and resources are utilized.
I think Christians are like this. In this post I want to talk about my new view of patience and how Christians are bulletproof.
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In my post about patience, I don't think I made it clear enough what that actually and truly means for me today. I want to emphasize the process of patience. Learning it is not an event, a one time thing and you've got it for the rest of your life. I think I tried to fool myself into thinking that I had learned how to be patient and didn't need to work on it anymore. Boy, was I wrong! The realization finally came upon me that patience, and other life lessons, are a process. As much as it pains me to say it, I will be learning patience for the rest of my life.
I realized this the other day when I had a conflict with one of my friends. I had thought that everything had been cleared up and taken care of, but it hadn't. It made me realize that when you really think about it, God doesn't just give you patience. He doesn't simple let you go through a specific amount of tests and once you complete them, you're done.
I really like this quote from Evan Almighty:
"Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"
He hits the point right where I want it to be. God doesn't just hand out patience to whoever asks for it. He gives you opportunities to be patient and it is your conscious choice to be patient in them.
Here's another way to put it. Learning a life lesson is like maintaining a bike. You get it all nice and cleaned up, you've oiled the chains, you've bought new parts, new tires, new seats, and even a little bell for the handlebars. Great! You've got a brand new bike, but once you start using it, it starts to get rusty and begins to need maintenance. If you want to keep riding the bike you have to continually, for the entirety of its use, take care of it and renew it.
Learning patience is just like that, we need opportunities to practice being patient or we're going to get rusty. Sure, you'll get more experience on how to maintain your patience (or other life lesson) and it might get easier, but you will always have to work at it.
I think this gives a more concise description on learning life lessons and I hope you enjoyed it.
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Now on to the bulletproof-ness of Christians. My Bible professor said something the other day that really intrigued me. He said, "Did you know that you are bulletproof until God is done with you?" I thought, huh, that sounds pretty awesome! In a little Bible study I do, we just recently opened up to Philippians and that same day I heard him say this, I read chapter 1.
In verse 6 it states, "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." This doesn't give you leave to be reckless and stupid, but I think it's an encouragement. We should need to be scared about doing God's work because no matter what, He will use us for his glory. As long as our hearts are set on the right goal, we are not going to be wasted or cut off early. You are bulletproof.
That's all I've got for today, I wish I could write more, but I've got to head to Bison Glee Club.
Keep being awesome! See you next week.
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